Gas-engine governor.



g. OKEY. GAS ENGINE coveauon.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.. 1910.

Patented 0015.24, 1916.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PERRY OKEY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO W; H. LALLEY, OF DETROIT,MICHIGAN.

GAS-ENGINE GOVERNOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 9, 1910. Serial No. 596,408.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERRY (hunt, a citizen of the United States,residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-Engine Governors, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to engine governors of the electric type and hasparticular application to various forms of engines used in connectionwith electric generators.

Various types of governors have been devised for throttling the enginesdriving a generator, but these governors have, in practically allinstances, been designed to create a state of stability or equilibrium.These devices have met with varying amounts of success, but they areparticularly undesirable for'use in connection with internal combustionengines, as there are so many features which enter into their operationwhich tend to vary the output thereof. These are brought about by manycauses, such as sufficient or insuflicient lubrication, quality of thelubricant, temperature of the cooling medium, or of the atmosphere,variation in the ignition from numerous causes, changes in the qualityand quantity of the fuel, changes of the humidity or barometricalpressure of the air, or any combination of these and many others. Any ofthese may result in an engine operating on a constant load to increaseor decrease its speed. It

will, therefore, be apparent that electric governors, particularly thosegoverned by the voltage of the generator, must be eflicient, as thesefeatures are not under their control. Therefore, my invention resides inthe provision of a governor which does not intend to establish a stateof equilibrium, but on the contrary, is what I have termed of theunstable type. This governor is used in connection with the throttlingvalve of an englue and my main object resides in the provision of meansfor continuously moving the valve between the position of greater andless opening than the load requirement for the same condition ofexternal load. In other words, the valve of the engine is at all tlmesfluctuating between a position of greater and less opening than the loadrequirement and consequently a balance is effected between these twopositions to constantly maintain the out-put of the generator uniformfor any given load requirement. By the same position for a given loadrequirement is not meant that the external load is constant at alltimes, for it is very evident that it may be varied between any desiredlimits and as frequently as is 'practi-- cal, but construction isemployed so that the fluctuating of the valve takes place at all timeswhether the load requirement issuch that the opening of the valve isone-quarter of an inch to effect the balance necessary, or whether it isthree-quarters of an inch.

Further, another object of my invention resides in so constructing thefluctuating mechanism that its operation is more rapid than the ordinaryvariations or fluctuations of an external load. Therefore, these rapidfluctuations of the controlling valve both above and below the requisiteopening for the applied load effects the nicety of balance necessary togive the required governing effect.

quirement the relay coming into play to so control these mechanisms thatthe valve is continually fluctuated as outlined. In other words, whenthe valve is closed too far, a decrease in speed is the result and thisdecrease reduces the voltage generated. However, this decrease is onlymomentary and then the valve moves to such a position that an excessspeed is had which increases the voltage. The relay mentioned is soconstructed that a very small variation in the voltage will cause itsoperation one way or the other, that is, to either cause the actuatingmechanism to open or close the valves.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanyingdraw: ings, in which similar charactersof reference designatecorresponding parts, and in which:

The above objects are preferably accomi the numeral 5 designates a gasengine of any ordinary or well known ty e and 6 indicates'the dynamodriven there y. The fuel intake pipe 7 leading to the cylinder of theengine, is divided into two chambers, 8 and 9, communicating with eachother through a suitable opening 10, the discharge through the mixingvalve 11 entering the chamber 9 immediately below the air inlet tube 11.

A line wire 12 is connected to one of the binding posts 13 of thedynamo. The line wire 14 leads from the binding post 16 of the dynamo toone end of the winding of the solenoid 15 and also to one end of thewinding of the solenoid 22, through the connection 22. The other end ofthe winding of the solenoid 15 is connected by the wire 14 to the,working circuit, thus causing the current used in the working circuitto pass through the winding of the solenoid 15. In units of largout-put, it may be found desirable to provide a shunt circuit of eithervariable or fixed resistance, to divert a part of the total current usedin the working cir cuit from the windings of the solenoid 15, and such ashunt is shown at 14". The soft iron core 17 forms a part of the valvecontrolling the area of opening of the ports 10, this soft iron corebeing preferably tubular in form and .having an opening 18 therein, inorder to avoid any dash-pot effect. This core is also provided with aspring 19. Connected to the upper part of the soft iron core 17, is avalve 20 of brass or other non-magnetic material, said valve in thepresent instance, being preferably in the'form of a piston. The pistonvalve is set, by means of the spring adjusting nut 21, so that asuffieient area of opening through the ports 10 is obtained to start theengine and permit the latter to'run at a maximum required speed when noload is connected to the dyna- .mo.

circuit, ,the series solenoid 15 will draw the As the load is added tothe working soft iron core and consequently the piston valve downward tosuch an extent as will permit a slight excess of gaseous mixture to besupplied to the engine, which causes the voltage of the dynamo to riseabove the normal. Mounted above the series solenoid and acting inopposition thereto, is a second solenoid 22, which tends to close thevalve against the action of the series solenoid when actuated asfollows:

29 designates a relay magnet, the windings of which are permanentlyconnected. across the Working circuit, said magnet havmg a core 30thereof carried by the arma ture bar 31 pivoted at 32 to the base plate33, a spring 34 normally tending to draw this armature bar upwardly. Thecontact point 35 is mounted on the end of the armature banadjacent thecontact point 36 carried by an adjusting screw mounted in any desirablemanner upon the base plate 33. As stated, the potential relay isconnected across the working circuit, this connection being the wires 37and 38, said relay being also connected throughythe wire 22, and wire 34leading from wire 37 to the pivot point 32,- with the solenoid 22, sothat when be furnished to the engine. nections being the relay isclosed, the latter will be energized and actin 1n opposition to theseries soleopened by the action of the solenoid 15 to a point permittinga slight excess of fuel to These concarried on with considerablerapidity, result in the variable charge being taken by the engine, or inother 'words the governor operates on the throttling principle at alltimes. r I

It will be noted that I have provided a type of governor wherein,instead of employing a plurality of valves and a, plurality {19fsolenoids for actuating the same, I emplipy but a single valveaccurately controlling the' passage of fluid to the engine andconsequently the speed of the dynamo, said valve being controlled andactuated by a plurality of solenoids acting in opposition one to theother, one of said solenoids being'controlled in itsaction by thepotential relay, the latter of which is effected by the rise and fall ofthe voltage of the dynamo.

' What I claim is- 1. In combination with an engine driven dynamo, athrottling inlet valve for said engine, electric means for opening saidvalve wider than the load requirement, supplemental electric meansacting'in a direction opposite to said first means and operating toclose said valve to a position bglow the load requirement, and operatingmeans controlling said first two means in a manner so that the valve iseither closed too far or open too far u ;der the same condition ofexternal load, operating means being actuated by the rise and fall of,the voltage of the dynamo due to the variations of speed caused by thethrottling action.

2. In combination with an engine driven dynamo, a throttling inlet valvefor said engine, electric means for opening said valve wider than theload requirement, supplemental electric means acting in a directionopposite to said" first means and operable to close said valve to'aposition below the load requirement, and operating means controlled.by the voltage generated for alternately rendering one and then both ofsaid first two means effective to alternate the position (of saidvalveas related under the'same external load requirement.

wider than the load requirement, supplemental electric means acting in adirection opposite to said first means and operable to close said valveto a position below the load requirement, and operating means foralternately rendering one of said first two means effective andinefiective for the same condition of external load, the other of saidtwo means being continuously effective, said oprating means beingcontrolled by the voltage generated by said dynamo.

4. In combination with an engine driven dynamo, a throttling inlet valvefor said engine, electric means for variably holding said valve open toa point greater than that necessary to supply suflicient energy to theengine to carry the dynamo load, and an intermittently operativeelectric means in opposition to said first means effective to close saidvalve to a point below that necessary to supply suflicient energy to theengine to carry the dynamo load, said two means causing a continuousalternation of said valve as speclfied for the same external load.

5. In combination with anengine driven dynamo, a throttling valve forsaid engine, a solenoid connected in series with the work circuit ofsaid dynamo and having a core connected to said valve, said solenoidtending to open said valve to aposition greater than the loadrequirement, a second'solenoid, the windings of which are connectedacross the work circuit of the dynamo, adapted to work in a directionopposite to said first PERRY OKEY.

- Witnesses RICHARD B. CAVANAGII, C. P. BEACH.

